To most American D.C. United fans, Syamsir Alam is somewhere between a curiosity and nepotism. We expect that he will spend some time in Richmond as a long term project, if D.C. United keep him for more than the year for which he is currently signed. However, coverage from Indonesia and the Indonesian media is far more intense. For all of the comments that have been posted to Twitter about Carlos Ruiz, Alam gets similar numbers of tweets just for an assist in a preseason game.
Voice of America Indonesia, which is based in Washington, D.C., decided to come over to RFK Stadium and talk to United general manager Dave Kasper and get the scoop about Alam. The summary is that the team is taking a flyer on the player and will decide by August or September if they are going to keep him longer than the one year deal on which he is currently playing. Even though most of it is in Javanese (I think), give it a watch; its more in depth than what many domestic news sources give to MLS in general and D.C. United specifically.